Digital information storage has become very popular, for example, using compact disks (CDs) in the audio industry, C-ROMs in the computer industry and digital video disks (DVDs) in the video game industry.
There are various types of prior art containers that are commonly used today for packaging and storing CDs. The most widely used type of CD container, commonly known as a "jewel box," consists of two generally rectangular mating trays joined along a rear edge by a pair of hinges to form a claim shell-like receptacle. Jewel box containers are typically opened by holding the lower tray in one hand and prying the upper tray open with the other. The CD is retained in a molded insert placed in the lower tray. Printed promotion and identifying material are usually fitted inside the container together with the CD.
A CD contained in a jewel box was commonly sold at retail in a package formatted called a "long box." The long box was approximately twice as long as the width of the jewel box which prevented easy shoplifting. The long box format also provided more area to display information and/or advertising material about the recordings on the CD to attract and inform the customer, and permitted utilization of existing merchandising racks, allowing the consumer to browse rows of the long boxes. Thus, the long box encouraged impulse buying.
However, the consumer discarded the long box after purchase, thereby generating millions of pounds of waste paper annually. This resulted in the long box format being criticized by environmentalists as an example of wasteful packaging. As a result, CDs are today primarily packaged in the traditional jewel box without the long box, or a similar box such as a "Digipac" or an "Ivy Hill F.L.P."
While jewel box containers are widely used, they suffer from several shortcomings. They are relatively expensive to manufacture since they are constructed from three separate pieces (i.e., an upper and lower tray and a molded insert) using conventional injection-molding technology. As a result of the hinged construction, the jewel box containers are prone to bending or fracturing over time since they are frequently opened and closed. The jewel box containers have small display areas which limit the amount of available graphic design and the plastic layer of the cover is not completely transparent, preventing a clear display of the underlying graphics. This discourages impulse buying.
The jewel box containers are also easy to steal because of their small size. Thus, oversized locks are necessary to deter theft. The "Digipac" and Ivy Hill F.L.P." suffer many of the same problems as the jewel box. They also include awkward locking mechanisms preventing them from being user friendly, i.e., they are hard to open and close and it is difficult to insert and remove the CD.
Presently, DVDs are an emerging technology for digital information storage in the video and computer industries. Unlike CDs, however, there is no standard for packaging the storing the DVDs.
The prior art CD containers are considered unsuitable for packaging and storing DVDs because of the problems associated therewith. Thus, there is a need for proper packaging and storage of such media, e.g., CDs and DVDs, which avoids the problems of the prior art CD containers, such as theft. Unfortunately, until now, suitable packaging and small-sized locks have not been available which are capable of retaining a jewel box, a DVD case or the like to deter theft.